China-Singapore Jingwei, October 20 (Zheng Yijia, Wang Yuling) "Freshly baked and sold baked cakes, come and take a look and taste them!" In Hengdian Film and Television City, a "Wu Dalang" is standing at the door of the store, warmly greeting tourists. In addition to selling baked cakes, he also has to answer the questions thrown by tourists as "Wu Dalang", so that tourists can experience the Water Margin culture immersively.
This is the "scenic NPC" that has been on fire in recent years. NPCs, or non-player characters in the game, are now key to creating a sense of immersion for visitors in scenic spots.
How did "Wu Dalang" come about selling baked cakes?
The actor responsible for playing the role of "Wu Dalang" in the Qingming Shanghe Scenic Area of Hengdian Film and Television City is Cheng Tao, who has been working in Hengdian Film and Television City for 6 years and is one of the many NPCs in the Hengdian Film and Television City Scenic Area.
Hengdian Film and Television City "Wu Dalang" sells baked cakes. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
In his daily work, Cheng Tao will cooperate with merchants to sell the "Wu Dalang Baked Cakes" in the scenic spot as the role of "Wu Dalang", and because of the long-term polishing, his role has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, many tourists will also treat him as a real "Wu Dalang" when visiting the scenic spot, and take the initiative to chat with him, during the holidays, the daily turnover of the shops he is stationed in can reach 10,000-20,000 yuan.
Cheng Tao told Zhongxin Jingwei that because of playing "Wu Dalang", his sense of substitution and immersion is increasing, and he is also popular with tourists. In order to continue to improve the role, Cheng Tao also read the original work of "Water Margin", figuring out the personality characteristics of "Wu Dalang", such as simplicity, kindness, and seems to be a bit easy to bully, and thinking about how to respond to tourists' questions as "Wu Dalang", so that tourists are really immersive.
Hengdian, Zhejiang, has become synonymous with China's film and television industry to some extent. According to the official website, Zhejiang Hengdian Film and Television City is not only a film and television base, but also a national 5A-level scenic spot, with more than 20 film and television shooting bases (scenic spots) such as Qinwang Palace, Qingming Shanghe Tu, Ming and Qing Dynasty Palaces, etc., receiving nearly 20 million tourists and nearly 500 film and television crews annually.
Although in 2015, Hengdian Film and Television City had a live-action NPC, but it was only wearing a role-playing costume and taking pictures with tourists, without interaction and distinctive character characteristics.
But now, the NPCs of Hengdian Film and Television City are "alive", not only can they drink and write poems, but they can also play with words with knives, and they can wander and sell more, bringing tourists an immersive new experience of cultural tourism, and it has also become a new "traffic password" for Hengdian Film and Television City.
Hengdian Film and Television City Qingming Shanghe Scenic Area "Famous Painting Resurrection" scene. Photo courtesy of the interviewee
On social platforms, many tourists are deeply impressed by the NPCs of Hengdian Film and Television City: "Through time and space, when I came to the Qingming Shanghe Scenic Area, it was like being on the streets of Bianliang, the shouting and selling were endless, the wine was played in a few corners, and Wu Dalang baked cakes to have a drink (note: the banquet passed the cup to persuade the wine)" "Hengdian Film and Television City vividly reflects the magnificent old Bund, here, the expressions of all NPCs will be very dramatic."
At present, there are more than 30 NPCs in Hengdian Film and Television City, distributed in 7 scenic spots, which are subject to change according to the off-peak season and scenic activities. It is worth noting that the NPCs of Hengdian Film and Television City have been praised by tourists for their excellent acting skills, and the person in charge of the Hengdian Film and Television City Art Troupe told Zhongxin Jingwei that the NPCs of Hengdian Film and Television City are generally professional backgrounds in film and television performance, drama performance, opera, dance, martial arts, quyi, etc., and belong to the Hengdian Film and Television City Performing Arts Troupe, and have relatively rich performance experience.
Talking about the advantages of NPC immersive tourism in Hengdian Film and Television City, the above-mentioned person in charge of the Hengdian Film and Television City Art Troupe said that Hengdian, as the largest film and television theme tourist resort in China, has rich film and television cultural accumulation and scenes across historical time and space.
Thousands of miles away from Hengdian Film and Television City, Jilin Changchun Zoological and Botanical Park is currently in full swing rehearsals, waiting for the reopening of the park in mid-to-late December, and meet visitors with a new attitude.
At the beginning of this year, the Changchun Zoological and Botanical Garden came out of the circle with an NPC "monkey" that was crushed under the Marble Mountain. Sun Wukong, played by post-00s actor Wang Tiezhu, became popular on the Internet because he complained that the snow cakes fed by tourists were "too dry and slashed", and was named "Snow Cake Monkey" by netizens.
According to Du Guijiang, the person in charge of the night tour project of Changchun Zoological and Botanical Garden, at the end of 2023, the park night tour project will be authorized by the 86th edition of "Journey to the West" of China Central Radio and Television. Since Wang Tiezhu, who is responsible for performing the Monkey King, has been learning to turn two people since he was a child, when designing the Marble Mountain project, the park wanted to perform in the form of a talk show. However, the dialogue alone lacked a storytelling experience, so the park began to think about how the actors could interact flexibly with visitors.
After several discussions, they had an idea, should they try to let tourists feed Sun Wukong snacks? According to the arrangement, the "Snow Cake Monkey" usually performs twice a day, with 40 and 35 people in each performance. After the launch of the project, "Snow Cake Monkey" quickly exploded out of the circle, and now it has become one of Changchun's well-known cultural tourism IPs, and the topic of "Snow Cake Monkey" on Douyin has now exceeded 3.47 billion times.
According to the data provided by Du Guijiang, up to now, the number of tourists receiving tourists for the night tour project of Changchun Zoological and Botanical Park this year has increased by 13% year-on-year; More than 3,000 visitors have visited the park more than 20 times. In the first half of this year, there was even a tourist who came to "feed the monkeys" 67 times.
Taking advantage of the immersive interactive east wind, the park struck while the iron was hot, and launched the "Daughter Country" project during this year's National Day holiday, where visitors can play the role of Tang Seng and the king of the daughter country, and immerse themselves in the classic episodes of "Journey to the West". In addition, the park has also launched the "If You Are a Snow Cake Monkey" project, allowing visitors to play the role of "Snow Cake Monkey" and receive feeding from other tourists.
Immersive tours require super NPCs
In addition to Hengdian Film and Television City and Changchun Zoological and Botanical Garden, in recent years, many scenic spots across the country have become popular for immersive interactive experiences, such as the Wansui Mountain Martial Arts City in Kaifeng City, Henan Province, which exploded on the Internet this year with "Wang Po Says Media"; Also in Kaifeng's Qingming Shanghe Park Scenic Area, the NPC "Little Beggar" became an instant hit at the beginning of this year. In addition, the "Fang Mou Du Dudu" in Datang Sleepless City, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province is also very popular, and the topic of "all members of Wuzhen are NPCs" has also been talked about a lot.
On the other hand, the scenic spot is also "thirsty" for NPCs. In July this year, "the monthly salary of the scenic spot is 5,000 to recruit savages to receive hundreds of calls a day" rushed to the hot search, and the recruiter, Guanshan Lake Scenic Area in Benxi City, Liaoning Province, subsequently responded that it was full. At the beginning of this year, the monthly salary of 6,000 yuan in Taihang Wuzhishan Scenic Area in Handan City, Hebei Province attracted attention. In theme parks such as Happy Valley, Fangte, Chimelong, etc., related recruitment is a daily demand.
"Immersion is needed for travel, and immersion requires super NPCs." Ge Lei, deputy secretary-general of the China Tourism Association, said.
In Ge Lei's view, the first generation of domestic tourist destinations emphasized photographic thinking and highlighted the beautiful scenery; The second generation of tourist destinations emphasizes stage thinking and tells local stories well; The third generation of tourist destinations emphasizes film and television thinking, allowing tourists to "enter the theater". "In recent years, the rise of immersive tourism has forced the construction of tourist destinations to introduce 'film and television thinking', that is, there are stories, scenes, and characters, especially to make tourists the protagonists."
"If the scenic spot wants to do a good immersive experience, it must be NPC-based." Zhong Hui, chairman of Shangyouhui Cultural Tourism, said, "The scenic spot should first dig out the story line of the NPC according to its own current situation and make content that is in line with the positioning of the scenic spot." Secondly, the audience should be clarified, and the content needs to be in line with the tourist group of the scenic spot. There are a large number of landscape-type scenic spots in China, and the homogenization can be broken by establishing a unique NPC content system. ”
Du Guijiang also found in the operation: "The core of tourism interactive experience drainage is culture. Today's tourists pay more attention to spiritual needs and are not satisfied with sightseeing as in the past, so whether the scenic spot can satisfy their emotional value has become one of the keys to attracting tourists. Visitors in our park are between the ages of 18 and 42, and there are many parent-child tourists, so they can impress tourists by integrating traditional culture and tourism in an entertaining way. ”
In this context, the quality of NPCs is closely related to the immersive experience. According to the above-mentioned person in charge of the Hengdian Film and Television City Art Troupe, Hengdian Film and Television City also attaches great importance to relevant designs in its daily operations, including in the setting of NPCs, which will be connected with the historical and cultural backgrounds of different scenic spots and the local performing arts shows, and will also be closely combined with the popular dramas filmed by the crew to carry out related activities. For example, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, Hengdian Film and Television City and the IP of "Lotus Tower" deeply launched the "Mid-Autumn Festival Night of Lotus Building" immersive experience activity, where tourists can interact with the NPCs in the play to collect stamps and check in and cruise.
In addition, Hengdian Film and Television City also requires NPCs to tell historical stories, and educate people by interpreting some historical stories and idiom stories, such as "Wang Po sells melons", "refers to deer as a horse", "loyal to the country", etc.; The NPCs of Hengdian Film and Television City will also be combined with commercialization, such as the opening of "Wu Dalang Sells Baked Cakes" and "Sun Erniang's Bun Shop", etc., so that tourists can be more immersed when buying food in China, and also increase income generation channels for scenic spots and related actors.
Changchun Zoological and Botanical Garden also puts forward high requirements for NPC actors. Most of the NPCs in the park are from professional classes, and in daily rehearsals, the park will pay special attention to the actors' adaptability, not only to keep up with their movements and expressions, but also to "pick up stalks" and "live".
(For more reporting clues, please contact the author of this article, Zheng Yijia: [email protected]) (Sino-Singapore Jingwei APP)
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